Republic of the Philippines
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Philippine Center for Postharvest
Development and Mechanization
CLSU Compound, Science City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija

NEWS STORIES

PHilMech licenses three firms to fabricate farm machines
by (December 6, 2018)
The Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PHilMech) has licensed three local firms to manufacture the Multi-Commodity Solar Tunnel Dryer (MCSTD), Manual Coffee Pulper and the Cassava Digger, which were all designed and developed by the agency.

PHilMech Director Dr. Baldwin Jallorina said the licensing of the three companies to manufacture PHilMech-developed and designed farm machines is part of the agency’s program to support the local metal industry, and to increase the supply of locally-manufactured farm machines in the country.

“The local metal industry has the potential to manufacture quality farm machines and equipment if given the proper support. The vision is for the Philippines to manufacture most of its farm machinery requirements in five to six years,” he said.

NSB Engineering and Design Fabrication based in Taguig City was given the license to manufacture the MCSTD, which is an enclosed dryer to reduce the moisture or dry commodities using the heat of the sun. It has the advantage of protecting the commodities from harmful exposure from the air. Among the commodities the MCSTD can dry are fish, tomatoes, fruits, among others.

NSB Engineering has been in the metal fabrication industry for 17 years and manufactures jigs and fixtures for various industries. It also supplies a number of components for an airline company.

Sohab Garcia Photography and Enterprises based in Sorsogon City has also been given the license to manufacture the MCSTD. It has been in the metal industry for seven years and supplied most of the solar-powered streetlights in Sorsogon.

On the other hand, Diordan Construction has been licensed to manufacture the Cassava Digger and the Manual Coffee Pulper. The company, based in South Cotabato, fabricated the 6MW biomass powerplant of Biotech Farms, and was one of the contractors for the establishment of the 100MW powerplant of Sarangani Energy Corp.

The Cassava Digger, developed by PHilMech in collaboration with the Agricultural Engineering Research Institute (AERI) of Thailand, allows the harvesting of cassava roots crops at a rate of 1.8 to 3 hectares per day. It is drawn by a farm tractor. It takes more than a day to harvest cassava from a hectare using the manual method using hand-held tools.

The Coffee Depulper can depulp coffee beans at a rate of 40 to 50 kgs per day, which is more than twice faster using the manual (hand) method using hand-held tools.

PHilMech has other companies licensed to manufacture PHilMech-developed farm machines. Among them are: ACT (Machineries and Metalcraft) Corp. (Isabela); Agri-Component Corp. (Isabela); AMS Machine Works and Fabrication (Valenzuela); Design 360° Engineering and Advertising (Nueva Ecija); Douglas Engineering and Machine Shop (Benguet); IZZO Industrial Supply (Pampanga); Machinesystems Corporation (Lapu Lapu City); Mariñas Technologies, Inc. (Laguna); and RJR Agro-Industrial Enterprises (Bukidnon).